Taking care of the people who take care of everyone else.
The HAVN911 Foundation was created to support the people behind the headset—the 911 telecommunicators who are there for our communities on their worst days, but too often have nowhere to turn when life becomes overwhelming for them.
Our mission is simple: when a dispatcher is struggling, we want them to know they are never alone.
What we do.
The HAVN911 Foundation provides meaningful support to 911 professionals facing difficult circumstances, both inside and outside the communications center.
That support may include emergency financial assistance during times of hardship, help connecting dispatchers with mental health and wellness resources, support following critical incidents or personal crises, and other programs designed to care for the 911 community when they need it most.
Sometimes help looks like connecting someone with the right resource. Sometimes it means helping keep the lights on during an unexpected crisis. And sometimes it simply means reminding someone who spends their career answering other people's calls for help that they are allowed to need help, too.
Why I started it.
I spent much of my career in 911, first behind the console and later in leadership. Today, through my work with 911 centers across the country, I continue to see the incredible people who make this profession work —and the toll this job can take on them.
Dispatchers hear the fear, grief, trauma and chaos of other people's worst moments every day. Then the call ends, another phone rings, and they are expected to keep going.
But the challenges don't stop when they leave the center.
Dispatchers experience financial hardship, family crises, illness, loss, burnout and the same unexpected struggles everyone else does — often while working mandatory overtime, short-staffed centers and incredibly stressful shifts.
I started the HAVN911 Foundation because I believe the people who spend their careers helping everyone else deserve a community willing to show up for them.
I don't want a dispatcher facing a difficult moment to wonder whether anyone cares.
We care. And we're going to show up.
This is what the HAVN911 Foundation is about.
NEVER ALONE.
HAVN911 was built around two words that represent everything we want this community to feel:
Never Alone.
Through the HAVN911 Foundation, we're turning those words into action — one dispatcher, one family and one moment of need at a time.